I propose to take Questions Nos. 940, 942 to 948, inclusive, 971 to 977, inclusive, 1013, 1015, 1016, 1017, 1018, 1019, 1020 and 1021 together.
Detailed information on scheme recipients, including recipients by county, are published each year by my Department in the Annual Statistical Report on Social Welfare Services, which is available at gov.ie/dsp/statistics. The Annual Statistical Report on Social Welfare Services in respect of 2021 is expected to be published in quarter 2 of this year.
The archive on gov.ie contains reports from 1998 through to the latest available report, which is 2020. Quarterly data by county, covering Q1 2014 through to Q3 2021, is also available, and is published on a quarterly basis through the national open data portal, data.gov.ie
The information requested by the Deputies is set out in the table below. Farm assist, fish assist, jobseekers for professional artists, and the jobseeker’s transitional payment, are forms of Jobseeker’s Allowance, and the numbers reported for Jobseeker’s Allowance are inclusive of these. The Benefit Payment for the Over 65s, introduced in 2021, is a form of Jobseeker’s Benefit, as is Jobseeker’s Benefit for the Self Employed, which was introduced in 2019. The Jobseeker’s Benefit figures are inclusive of these. Where 1 to 3 people were in receipt of these payments, the value 'between 1 and 3' is entered in the table to prevent any possible identification of the recipients.
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
2019
|
2020
|
2021
|
Farm Assist
|
400
|
346
|
307
|
249
|
230
|
215
|
Fish Assist
|
between 1 and 3
|
between 1 and 3
|
between 1 and 3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Jobseeker's Transitional Payment
|
274
|
288
|
296
|
284
|
292
|
291
|
Jobseeker's Allowance - artists
|
-
|
0
|
between 1 and 3
|
between 1 and 3
|
between 1 and 3
|
5
|
Jobseeker's Allowance (all)
|
4,966
|
4,376
|
3,656
|
3,361
|
3,436
|
2,888
|
Jobeeker's Benefit Self Employed
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
between 1 and 3
|
21
|
Benefit Payment Over 65s
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
90
|
Jobseeker's Benefit (all)
|
1,192
|
1,064
|
977
|
1,098
|
1,046
|
915
|